Hair algae ??????????

W

wnecbubba74

New member
I’m starting to have a hair algae attack in my 90 gallon. The algae is growing on the side of the tank (I clean it off and it just re-grows) and on a couple of pieces of LR. What can I do to avoid a massive problem?

P.H ~8.4
Nitrate~15 ppm
Ammonia~0
Nitrite~0
S.G~1.0245
Temp~78-79 F
400 watt MH combo with about 4 months on the bulbs
 
I have the same problem. My tank is new, just LR and sand. I think I was running my T5's too long. I cut back on lighting and just added 10 Mexican Turbo snails. They are only in the tank about six hours and are going to town on the algae:D .
 
Re: Hair algae ??????????

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9460615#post9460615 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wnecbubba74
I’m starting to have a hair algae attack in my 90 gallon. The algae is growing on the side of the tank (I clean it off and it just re-grows) and on a couple of pieces of LR. What can I do to avoid a massive problem?

P.H ~8.4
Nitrate~15 ppm
Ammonia~0
Nitrite~0
S.G~1.0245
Temp~78-79 F
400 watt MH combo with about 4 months on the bulbs
Click to expand...

Do you use RO/DI water? Can you find the source of your nitrates? They are fairly high for a reef tank.
 
Algae blooms are normal during cycling andunfortunately need to run it's course. However once Nitirites and Ammonia are testing 0 and you've done a water change to reduce leftover nitrates you can add phosphate pads (I like Tropical Science brand) and snails. Leaving the lights off for several days helps too by eliminating the algaes photosynthesis. The phosphate removal, lack of lighting, and algae hungry snails should rid of the new tank/cycling phase algae.

Good Luck!!!!!
 
also, are you running a good protein skimmer? That can make a big difference, i replaced my old with a much better one, and made a huge difference. FWIW
 
I have a Seaclone 100 (sad to say). It wasn’t working that great so I dropped an air stone into it and it seems like it is running a lot better. It fills the cup up in about two weeks compared to once a month.

Some of you guys have stated that turning off the light for a couple of day will help; but won’t that kill off most of the coral? I have the 400 watt system and I run it about 8 hours a day.
 
your lighting seems to be right where is should be, but yes that would obviously help.

i had the POS skimmer until about a week ago. I picked up a coralife superskimmer 65. the collection up is easily twice as big fills about an inch a day. atleast 10-20 times more than seaclone 100 i was running. and thats an inch from dry foam. in main chambor should look like a frothy milk. mine didnt do that ever. my new SS worked perfect almost instantly. cant recomend enough to get one.
 
Is there a fish that would help get ride of the algae; instead if pulling it off my hand?

Would a yellow tang or something like that help?
 
I believe the Lawnmower Blenny is good for hair algae.

Do you have snails? I'm tellin' ya, these new Mexican Turbos are cleaning up my hair algae. I plan on adding Cerith snails too.
 
snails are great too. about 1 per gallon is the norm. yellow tang is fantastic but your tank isnt big enough for a few reasons. you want atleast about 100 gallons for them, they need alot of room to swim, and you also need a bigger tank for their bio-load which is a ton. i'll try to find the link that has all the common aquarium fish, and what their minimum tank sizes are. obviously you can do whatever you want, but tangs as a whole need a much bigger tank. i wanted to do the same thing, but was told by about 20 people i would need 75-100 gallons at the least. you could get a really small one, and then trade it when it becomes to large, but just keep an eye on your takes bio-load, could become a problem in short order.
 
lawnmowers blenny's are awsome too, but im not crazy about their look, and you should have a sandy substrate because they like to burrow in the sand and just stick their head out. also if your rocks are on your substrate and not on the actual tank bottom, you run the risk of it burrowing under your rock, and causing a avalanche (not common, but it has happened to some people on here)
 
Well what you could is get a phosban reactor (phosphate reactor), and just run that for a while or all the time. I put one on my 75 tank which had about 3 inches of hair algae on EVERY rock and half of the tank is clean now.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9465942#post9465942 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by oli5
Well what you could is get a phosban reactor (phosphate reactor), and just run that for a while or all the time. I put one on my 75 tank which had about 3 inches of hair algae on EVERY rock and half of the tank is clean now.
Click to expand...


Hmm, I've been running a phosban reactor and still delevoped hair algae.
 
worry about the root problem. it will not get better till you find out where the excess nutrents are coming from.
 
I do water changes about every two weeks (most of the time). But Could there be somthing wrong with the water itself (out of the tap)? I did just move into the area so i dont know what the water Conditions are.

Also where is a good cheap place to get snails online?
 
Couple of things I would suggest.
If you have a decent sized sump buy a good skimmer. Euro-Reef, ASM and there are several others.
I don't think the skimmer you have is sufficient.
Get an RO/DI water system and lose the tap water. It's just not worth the chance and hassle to use it.
Do water changes at least once per week. I change 12 gallons per week like clock work.
I would not reduce the light time.
Reduce feeding of the fish and run a reactor with GFO in it to reduce phosphates etc.

Do those things along with prunning and it will get better. Give it some time to work it's way out.

Regards,

Pat
 
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